Granted Patent B2

US 8,788,077 · App. 12/111,005 · Granted Jul 22, 2014

Abstract

Claims (23)

1. A control device configurable to couple to a plurality of devices having different control functions comprising:

a touch sensitive display reconfigurable for the different control functions of the plurality of devices; and

a processor coupled to the touch sensitive display, the processor including a plurality of processing algorithms, the processor configured to receive at least one of the control functions and additional information from among the plurality of devices, the processor configured to selectably process the additional information using at least one of the processing algorithms based on the respective device and to control the touch sensitive display such that the at least one control function and the selectably processed additional information peculiar to the respective device of the plurality of devices are presented on the touch sensitive display,

where the processor, responsive to an indication by the touch sensitive display, generates at least one control signal, where the processor sends the at least one control signal to the corresponding device among the plurality of devices being controlled and sends the selectably processed additional information to at least one of the plurality of devices, and

where the additional information received from among the plurality of devices includes a signal generated from at least one of the plurality of processing algorithms including an audio signal processing algorithm to analyze an audio signal to determine a sound pressure level dosage as a percentage of an accumulated dose or as a time remaining value before a threshold shift occurs.

2. The control device according to claim 1 , where the control device is a piece of jewelry.

3. The control device according to claim 2 , where the at least one control function is received by the processor via at least one of a wired connection or a wireless connection.

4. The control device according to claim 2 , where the at least one control signal is sent by the processor via at least one of a wired connection or a wireless connection.

5. The control device according to claim 1 where the processor generates a plurality of control signals for the plurality of devices.

6. The control device according to claim 1 , where the plurality of devices includes at least one of a cell phone, a personal media player, a computer device, a biometric sensor system or a headset.

7. The control device according to claim 1 , where the at least one control signal is configured to control at least one of sound reproduction, sound recording or sound exposure monitoring of the corresponding device.

8. The control device according to claim 1 , further including at least one of a microphone, a loudspeaker or a biometric sensor.

9. The control device according to claim 1 , further comprising a battery warning system configured to provide an indication of a battery status of at least one of the control device or one or more of the plurality of devices.

10. The control device according to claim 1 , where the additional information includes at least one of sound exposure information, biometric information or audio information.

11. The control device according to claim 1 , where the audio signal processing algorithm includes at least one of voice recognition, non-voice signal recognition or sound exposure monitoring.

12. The control device of claim 1 , wherein the audio signal processing algorithm analyzes the audio signal to determine the sound pressure level dosage as the percentage of the accumulated dose or as the time remaining value before the threshold shift occurs based on current ambient sound levels and levels of reproduced audio content.

13. A method of facilitating remote control of at least one device having different control functions comprising:

receiving, by a processor, an instruction for at least one of the control functions and additional information from the at least one device, the processor including a plurality of processing algorithms, the additional information received from the at least one device including at least information extract from an audio signal;

causing the processor to selectably process the additional information using at least one of the processing algorithms and to control a touch sensitive display reconfigurable for the different control functions of the at least one device, such that the at least one control function and the selectably processed additional information are presented on the touch sensitive display, at least one of the plurality of processing algorithms including an audio signal processing algorithm which causes the processor to analyze the audio signal to determine a sound pressure level dosage as a percentage of an accumulated dose or as a time remaining value before a threshold shift occurs; and

generating at least one control signal by the processor responsive to determining the sound pressure level dosage exceeds a threshold for the threshold shift.

14. The method according to claim 13 , where the at least one control signal is configured to control at least one of sound reproduction, sound recording or sound exposure monitoring of the corresponding device.

15. The method according to claim 13 , where the additional information includes at least one of sound exposure information, biometric information or audio information and wherein the method further comprises transmitting the at least one control signal to the at least one device being controlled.

16. The method according to claim 13 , where the audio signal processing algorithm includes at least one of voice recognition, non-voice signal recognition or sound exposure monitoring.

Assignments (12)